4 DC VELOCITY DECEMBER 2014 www.dcvelocity.com
inbound
Although the majority of attendees at the 2014 MHI Executive
Summit and Annual Conference, held in San Diego in October,
represented the material handling industry, the conference pre-
sentations ranged far beyond that. This year’s agenda included
multiple sessions on such topics as embracing innovation, the
changing work force, and managing complexity.
The event also featured presentations on innovation by interna-
tionally known experts like Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia;
Thomas Malone, founder of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology’s Center for Collective Intelligence; John Kao, chair-
man of the Institute for Large Scale Innovation; Michael Walton,
head of manufacturing for Google Enterprise; and Brent Beabout,
senior vice president of international e-commerce fulfillment at
Walmart.
If you were unable to attend the summit, we have some
good news. You can still hear what some of these movers and
shakers had to say about innovation, the work force challenges
facing supply chains, and trends in supply chain technology.
DC VELOCITY’s Mark Solomon was on the scene and interviewed
more than 20 speakers, including rare exclusives with Wales,
Malone, Kao, and Beabout. You can watch these thought-
provoking conversations on Channel 1 of DCV-TV at www.
dcvelocity.com/dcvtv/news/.
Check out our interviews with
international thought leaders
When an epic wall of lake-effect snow slammed Buffalo, N. Y., in
mid November, Tom Wilson was at work in a local warehouse.
And there he and his co-workers stayed for the next 36 hours.
The fast-moving storm dumped an entire season’s worth of
snow so quickly that traffic came to a standstill, vehicles were
immobilized on the New York Thruway, and residents were
trapped in their houses by six feet or more of the white stuff.
Wilson, 28, told the Associated Press that he shared a frozen
dinner with co-workers and later tried to get some sleep, which
turned out to be harder than he had expected. “I slept on a pal-
let. Then I slept on some office chairs, and then I went back to
the pallet,” he said. That proved uncomfortable indeed, so the
resourceful Wilson looked around for something better, eventu-
ally seizing on some sponges to use as a pillow.
The Consumer’s Beverages Inc. warehouse where Wilson and
his co-workers spent a day and a half was filled with drinks but
little food. The stranded employees tried to make popcorn using
some wood, charcoal, empty soda pop kegs, and a dust pan. And
the result? “It didn’t work,” Wilson said.
An un-pallet-able situation in Buffalo
Here are some recent examples of
donations and other charitable works
by companies in the logistics, trans-
portation, and material handling fields:
; Virgin Atlantic Cargo flew 57 cap-tive-bred mountain chicken frogs on
a scheduled flight from the U.K. to
the Caribbean. The critically endangered species is native to Montserrat
and Dominica; more than 90 percent
of their population has died due to
volcanic activity in Montserrat and
a fungal disease affecting amphibians
worldwide.
; On Veterans Day, truckload carrier
Crete Carrier Corp. presented new
Freightliner Cascadia trucks with special “Patriot Fleet” graphics to five
company drivers who are veterans of
the U.S. armed forces. This brings to 15
the number of Patriot Fleet vehicles in
the carrier’s lineup.
; Con-way Freight is transporting
pallets of used phones to recyclers at
no charge for the nonprofit group Cell
Phones for Soldiers. The organization
converts cash from the recycled phones
into long-distance calling cards that
servicemen and women overseas can
use to call home at no cost.
; The game was on at Jervis B. Webb
Co., which recently hosted a Lego
League Scrimmage at its demonstration facility in Michigan. Employees
coached students in grades 4–8 in the
science and engineering-focused event,
and then gave live demonstrations of
the company’s automated equipment.
Logistics gives back
